Most politicians are masters at evading questions they don’t want to answer. And they are equally adept at giving answers that seem to be candid but in fact say nothing.
These skills were on full display during the August 6 GOP debate hosted by the Fox News Network.
For example:
Business Executive Donald Trump had just slammed the Federal Government’s failure to control illegal immigration.
And Fox News Moderator Chris Wallace wanted to know if Ohio Governor John Kasich agreed with him:
“When you say that the American government is stupid, that the Mexican government is sending criminals, that we’re being bamboozled, is that an adequate response to the question of illegal immigration?”
John Kasich
KASICH: “Now, he’s got his solutions. Some of us have other solutions. You know, look, I balanced the federal budget as one of the chief architects when I was in Washington. Hasn’t been done since.
“I was a military reformer. I took the state of Ohio from an $8 billion hole and a 350,000 job loss to a $2 billion surplus and a gain of 350,000 jobs.”
[Kasich, more liberal-minded than his fellow Republicans, didn’t want to condemn Trump’s hawkish views. If he did, he would lose support from the anti-immigrant Republican base. So he changed the subject to his economic policies as governor of Ohio.]
WALLACE: “Respectfully, can we talk about illegal immigration?”
KASICH: “But the point is that we all have solutions. Mr. Trump is touching a nerve because people want the wall to be built. They want to see an end to illegal immigration.
“They want to see it, and we all do. But we all have different ways of getting there. And you’re going to hear from all of us tonight about what our ideas are.”
[Kasich totally evaded the question. He said that “we all have solutions” to illegal immigration. But he never offered his.]
Fox News Moderator Megyn Kelly to Florida Governor Jeb Bush: “…For days on end in this campaign, you struggled to answer a question about whether knowing what we know now…we would’ve invaded Iraq….
“You finally said ‘No.'”
“To the families of those who died in that war who say they liberated and deposed a ruthless dictator, how do you look at them now and say that your brothers war was a mistake?”
Jeb Bush
BUSH: “Knowing what we know now, with faulty intelligence, and not having security be the first priority when — when we invaded, it was a mistake. I wouldn’t have gone in.”
[Bush’s reply totally ignored that his brother, President George W. Bush, deliberately ignored all evidence that Saddam Hussein did not pose a threat to the United States.
[He also ignored the fact that his brother provoked a needless, bloody and financially ruinous war in Iraq.]
BUSH: “…As governor of the state of Florida, I called every one of [the families who had lost members in Iraq and expressed his condolences].
“…And, every one of them said that their child did not die in vain, or their wife, of their husband did not die in vain. So, why it was difficult for me to do it was based on that.”
[This sounded plausible. But then Bush moved to shift the blame from his brother to President Barack Obama.]
BUSH: “Here’s the lesson that we should take from this, which relates to this whole subject, Barack Obama became president, and he abandoned Iraq.
“He left, and when he left Al Qaida was done for. ISIS was created because of the void that we left, and that void now exists as a caliphate the size of Indiana.”
[In fact, “ISIS was created because of the void” that emerged when Bush toppled Saddam Hussein. Hussein’s dictatorial rule had suppressed religious-based terror organizations like Al Qaeda and ISIS.]
For News Moderator Megyn Kelly asked Dr. Benjamin Carson: “Your critics say that your [foreign policy] inexperience shows.
“You’ve suggested that the Baltic States are not a part of NATO, just months ago you were unfamiliar with the major political parties and government in Israel, and domestically, you thought Alan Greenspan had been treasury secretary instead of federal reserve chair.
“Aren’t these basic mistakes, and don’t they raise legitimate questions about whether you are ready to be president?”
CARSON: “So, you know, experience comes from a large number of different arenas, and America became a great nation early on not because it was flooded with politicians, but because it was flooded with people who understood the value of personal responsibility, hard work, creativity, innovation, and that’s what will get us on the right track now, as well.”
[Carson totally evaded the question. He implied that other qualities–such as “hard work, creativity, innovation”–would make up for his lack of foreign policy experience and knowledge.]
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SPOTTING EVASIONS: PART THREE (END)
In Bureaucracy, History, Politics, Social commentary on August 17, 2015 at 12:05 amAs the August 6 Republican debate wore on, so did the evasive answers.
Chris Wallace, Fox News Commentator to Businessman Donald Trump: “In 2011, you told Forbes magazine that ‘I’ve used the laws of the country to advantage.’ But at the same time, financial experts involved in those bankruptcies say that lenders to your companies lost billions of dollars.
“…With that record, why should we trust you to run the nation’s business?”
TRUMP: “Because I have used the laws of this country just like the greatest people that you read about every day in business have used the laws of this country, the chapter laws, to do a great job for my company, for myself, for my employees, for my family, et cetra. I have never gone bankrupt, by the way.”
[Trump totally ignored the charge that “lenders to your companies lost billions of dollars.” He bragged that he had “used the laws” to “do a great job for my company….” He seemed to be saying that as long as he made a killing, it didn’t matter if his lenders got nothing.]
Donald Trump
Chris Wallace persisted in his questioning: “Well, sir, let’s just talk about the latest example, which is Trump Entertainment Resorts, which went bankrupt in 2009.
“In that case alone, lenders to your company lost over $1 billion and more than $1,100 people were laid off. Is that the way that you’d run the country?”
TRUMP: “…First of al, these lenders aren’t babies. These are total killers….And I had the good sense to leave Atlantic City….Every company virtually in Atlantic City went bankrupt.
“…Seven years ago I left Atlantic City before it totally cratered, and I made a lot of money in Atlantic City, and I’m very proud of it….”
WALLACE: “So….”
TRUMP: “And by the way, this country right now owes $19 trillion. And they need somebody like me to straighten out that mess.”
[Trump bragged about making “a lot of money” in Atlantic City while ignoring the jobs lost by his employees and the monies lost by his lenders. He said that America needed “somebody like me” to straighten out its financial mess.
[But there is a difference between making a profit for yourself as a businessman and ensuring a just society for all Americans as President.]
Fox News Moderator Megyn Kelly to former Florida Governor Jeb Bush: “…A story appeared today quoting an anonymous GOP donor who said you called Mr. Trump a clown, a buffoon….”
BUSH: “None of which is true.”
Then, after saying “I want to win,” he attacked President Barack Obama:
“We’re not going to win by doing what Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton do each and every day. Dividing the country. Saying, creating a grievance kind of environment.”
[From literally the first day Obama’s Presidency, Republicans tried to block every piece of legislation he proposed. This was especially true of his efforts to provide healthcare for all Americans.
[Thus, Bush slandered the President and distorted history while denying that he had slandered Trump.]
Jeb Bush
Sometimes it is the moderator who raises non-issues, as Megyn Kelly did with Senator Rand Paul:
“In the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling on same sex marriage…what will you do to ensure Christians are not prosecuted for speaking out against gay marriage….?”
[Christians are not being “prosecuted for speaking out against gay marriage.” The First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech, especially on controversial issues.]
Fox News Moderator Brett Baier asked Dr. Benjamin Carson: “As President, would you have used military force [in Syria, when its dictator, Bashir al-Assad, was found to have used chemical weapons against his own citizens]?”
CARSON: “…I would shore up our military first, because if you don’t get the military right, nothing else is going to work.”
[In short, Carson didn’t say whether he would have used military force in Syria.]
* * * * *
So how do you tell when a politician is evading?
First, educate yourself on the issues. If you know that President George W. Bush intended to go to war with Iraq when he took office in 2001, you won’t buy the line that he was the victim of poor intelligence two years later.
Second, pay attention to the question being asked. If it seeks a specific answer, the failure of a candidate to give one will alert you that s/he’s evading. Be especially alert to the unwillingness of candidates to directly answer “Yes” or “No” questions.
Third, look for contradictions in the candidates’ statements. If he describes himself as “pro-life” but calls for huge increases in the nuclear arsenal, it means: He’s anti-abortion but pro-slaughter–so long as the victims aren’t fetuses.
Fourth, beware of meaningless babble. A favorite trick of highly-polished debators–such as President John F. Kennedy–is to throw out impressive-sounding statistics which seem to answer the question but don’t.
Fifth, beware the emotion-charged story. To inflame Americans against Saddam Hussein in 1991, President George H.W. Bush clamed that Iraqi soldiers had ripped Kuwaiti babies from incubators. Only after the Gulf (oil) war did the story prove to be false.
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